2018 MINING CLAIM FEES AND WAIVERS

[Smithsgold]

https://www.blm.gov/press-release/public-land-mining-claim-fees-and-waivers-are-due-september-4

 

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[Clay Diggins]

Heck truck mileage at the IRS rate of 56.5 cents a mile to get to the claim is a cost of claim maintenance.

Fuel for work on the claim or maintaining/improving access to the claim might be included in "labor" but transportation to and from the claim are not. The essence of the labor requirement is contained in the law:

not less than $100 worth of labor shall be performed or improvements made during each year

Since the cost of transporting yourself to the claim is neither labor on the claim or an improvement to the claim it's not considered in the $100 worth of labor required. The BLM may at any time inspect your claim for evidence of labor and improvements if you have declared the small miners waiver. I'm not sure how your transportation costs could show up as labor or improvements on your claim?

Here's a big hint from the IBLA:

The cost of road construction can qualify as assessment work. If the
construction of an access road qualifies as assessment work,
improvement of the access road will as well. In turn, a road
improvement which reduces the frequency or cost of maintenance is as
legitimate as an improvement making the road more accessible.

So it's clear that access work extends to claim labor or improvements. But here's the rest of the story:

Evidence of a bona fide intent to develop a claim and use the mineral
resources is paramount when determining whether the claimant has
made a good faith attempt to comply with 30 U.S.C. § 28. (the labor and improvement requirement)

A billing from a gas station is not evidence of "intent to develop a claim and use the mineral resources". If it was we could all just drive around thinking about how much we would like to develop our claims and make copies of our fuel bills.

Often I see small miners confuse the right to use off claim labor and improvements to satisfy the $100 labor requirement as a right to apply their transportation expenses to the labor requirement. It just ain't so. If you gave the BLM enough detail on applying your transportation fuel costs to your labor requirement you will eventually get a letter asking for an explanation. It will go downhill from there.

It's pretty easy to do $100 labor. Generally just digging and processing for 8 hours a year per claim will suffice. 4 hours for two people per claim 1 hour for 8 people.

Always keep a written note of who did the work, where on the claim work took place and what dates were involved. Keep those notes in your claim folder along with the results of the processing. Do not go into much detail as to the nature of the work on your POL. "$100 worth of labor" is good enough. Keep your mining records in your personal claim folder, not in public. You have a right not to reveal your mining methods or results in a public record like an Affidavit of Labor.

Actual labor or actual improvement is the requirement. You may be able to write off your transportation costs on your taxes as a cost of doing business but you can't apply your transportation costs to the labor requirement.

Heavy Pans

 

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[Bejay]

Access road maintenance. I have to cut my way in on USFS and BLM roads to get to my claims after the winter snows do their thing....those that are not on my claims....many downed trees block access. I maintain the historic trails and the pre 1976 FLPMA mining road that access my main claim. I remove hazardous fire materials in and around my staging area. I remove and treat noxious weeds as well....tanzy and poison oak I remove and haul off peoples trash that gets left after the hunting seasons....and I take pics of the material before collecting it all and save the dump receipt. On my claims I clean the trails and road of combustible materials by raking the woody debris off of them. I built and maintain a horse corral on one claim. All kinds of work has gone into maintaining my claims for the past 40 years. Maintaining access has been somewhat of a contentious issue with the USFS: they are about closing access. BUT all PUBLIC access prior to FLPMA can be argued against closures.


Bejay

 

[Rail Dawg]

Thanks Clay for the lesson above.

I did not know that. Very helpful.

 

[mendoAu]

A picture like this and the fact that the blm can't miss the remains of said tree goes a long way to "prove" assessment work....HA!



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